What member of the plant kingdom produces fruit that can hold beverages, float fishing nets, house crickets and make music? It’s the gourd, of the Cucurbitacea, the large family that ranges from the salad cucumber (Cucumis sativus) and melon (C. melo) to winter squash and pumpkins (C. maxima). This versatile plant likely has held a longer association with humans than any other.

Gardeners everywhere greet spring with enthusiasm, but the duration and severity of New England winters encourage those of us who garden here to regard with a certain ardor the first plants to emerge from the still-cold ground.